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ECL410 Assessment 2 Presentation Wiki
Outline of the Issue - The issue identified within this teaching group was technology infused writing with a focus on spelling. The students within this class were focusing on their ability to spell using the program ‘Words their Way’ and as a result we have addressed this topic by incorporating these words into a lesson sequence based around writing. This lesson was made to be relevant for our learners and the requirements of the curriculum by incorporating technology to assist in writing and spelling. Rather than focusing on letter writing the decision had been made to address email writing as it more applicable to our students lives. Research Question The Research Question chosen was ‘''How can digital technologies support technology-infused writing in a Year 2 classroom?’. The '''sub-questions' to assist with further inquiry on technology infused writing are - * ‘How might digital technologies enhance technology infused writing of mixed abilities group in a Year 2 classroom?’ * ‘How will our pedagogical practices engage our learner through the use of strategic teaching approaches in order to support individual learning outcomes of our students?’ * ‘How might the students’ spelling words be infused in their writing?’ Literature Review Teachers have also found that using the Words Their Way program helps them to “work at each student’s individual level rather than using a ‘one size fits all’ spelling list” (Campbell & Devereaux, 2018). Fosnot (2013, p. Preface) states that a constructivist approach to learning ‘gives learners the opportunity for concrete, conceptually meaningful experience’ through which they can raise questions… and interpret ideas’. Sandolo (2010, pp.9) discusses how the explicit use of technology to teach children writing has the potential to, “engage learners of all ages and abilities”. Peterson & McClay (2012, pp.1) also states that there have been many correlations between students quality, quantity and motivation to write when technology is involved. Report on Empirical School Based Research This lesson sequence was taught to a group of eight Year 2 students. The group of students was made up of two girls and six boys. The literacy focus for the students was previously procedural writing, while also focusing on their Words Their Way spelling words. The students had access to the eight iPads provided in the class, plus three computers. The lesson sequence consisted of four lessons based on email writing with a small inclusion of the Words Their Way spelling words. Lesson 1: Getting to know the students and their interests. Lesson 2: Identifying the features of an email - formal & informal Lesson 3: Identifying misconceptions and writing a draft of an email to teacher Lesson 4: Typing up & sending email and completing a Words their Way spelling word search An observation made throughout the lesson sequence was that the students got distracted by each other quite easily. This made it challenging at times to complete the work planned in the short amount of time provided. It was also noted that the students were of mixed abilities and those contributing ideas were the students whose writing ability was of a higher level Overall, all the students understood the basics of how to structure an email, the tone of an email depending on the recipient and how to send an email. The use of the iPads and computers to write up and physically have the opportunity to send the email they had written, allowed them ‘to engage in authentic communication, creating texts that they find personally meaningful’ (Wells & Auld 2014, p.64). Findings: Response to Research Question We focused our lessons on teaching the students about email writing, with a small inclusion of Words their Way spelling words. From our lessons we were able to find that when technology is incorporated into lessons, students were more engaged with the technology and that students who were easily unmotivated to participate in the lesson worked better with the technology. When planning the lessons, we made sure to incorporate a variety of activities and teaching strategies that would engage each of the students based on what we learnt from our first “get to know you” lesson. Through our research we found incorporating “creation” into our lessons provided students with the highest order of learning. By allowing our students to “create” their own emails, they were able to develop their skills in using technology while also applying their learning from previous lessons of the features of an email into a “real life” situation. Implications for Practice * Engagement of our students * Knowledge of technology available - Third Lesson * Modelling the emails - We found modelling the emails really helpful however it was slightly difficult to engage the boys at time as once they began laughing about one of the email examples bringing them back into focus on the emails took time. * To assist with writing the draft email, we could have provided the students with a printed out template of an email for them to fill out. * Having limited technology to access, using the words their way in a word search was a beneficial way to address their words further whilst also keep them engaged whilst the other half of the group were writing up their drafts * We enjoyed getting our children to brainstorm creative topics for their emails. * If we had more time we would have loved to reply to the students emails to extend out lesson Resources Gmail: www.google.com/gmail How to write an Email: http://blog.kidsemail.org/2015/06/how-to-write-an-e-mail/ Latest activity Photos and videos are a great way to add visuals to your wiki. 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